I’ve probably stated, ad nauseam, that we’ve been terrified of travel with the Monster. The big issue isn’t the “getting there” part, the changes to schedule, or other odd shifts… but nighttime issues.
And still, for some crazy reason, we’ve taken at least one more-than-a-day trip each year for the last few. Continue reading
Today was the Monster’s first day of school for the year.
In prior years, he’s been off at camp for the entire summer. We’ve been fortunate that the JCC Camps here all offer ESY (Extended School Year, for those not in the know) integrated into the camp program – while he might not get the general education services that he’d get by attending the city schools’ program, he’s been getting speech and OT, which are what he needs far more than the academics. But this year, since he’s at an 11-month school, he actually has school during the month of July, and so…
Off he went this morning on his yellow bus to go meet his classmates. Continue reading
We probably were asking for trouble, but I think we lucked out in the end, in terms of how things worked.
Most of the time, dealing with a child with Autism and the occasional sensory issue, we take into account what we think he can handle. This means one, maybe two activities, with trying to quiet things down between them to ensure that there aren’t problems…
And then there are the days where we massively throw the whole thing out the window and roll the dice. Continue reading
There’s always the question of what to do with a special needs child over the summer. There’s school-provided ESY, or other enrichment programs, or perhaps doing some home schooling… or there’s regular camp.
As we did last summer, this summer we decided to send the Monster to Camp Milldale. Continue reading
Sorry for taking a few days to do a write-up – I’ve been a bit distracted with preparations for my sabbatical, and then with actually pretending to be a stay-at-home dad for a few days. 😉
So, as the summer’s been progressing, we made our annual visit to the Aberdeen Ironbirds for Autism Awareness Day. Continue reading
And the march from ballpark to ballpark continues.
This weekend is a double-header for us. We’ve the opportunity to go catch two of the Baltimore Orioles’ farm teams this weekend – the Bowie Baysox (AA, Eastern League) on Friday night and the Aberdeen Ironbirds (Short-Season A, New York-Penn League) this evening. Both teams are doing their Autism Awareness games this weekend. Continue reading
Now that it’s hot enough on weekends, and we’re past Memorial Day, we’re finding time to go take the kids to the pool.
The Monster is swimming twice daily at his day camp, but there’s no reason for us not to go swimming ourselves at the JCC… and they do have a fabulous outdoor pool complex here. Continue reading
Next Monday is the last day of this school year.
I don’t know that either of us has tried to explain yet to the Monster that he’s not going to school for a few weeks, after Monday morning. It’s a kind of abstract concept anyway, and besides, the week after, he’ll start summer camp, which will also involve his riding a bus each day. Continue reading
My wife got the afternoon off from the kids for Mothers’ Day – she’s down at Oriole Park while I have the kids at home.
Because we have the feeding clinic visit (and by we, I mean “my wife and the Monster”, since it’s during R’s nap-time), the Monster’s weekly private OT and speech therapy were moved to this morning. This was just fine by us, since today’s also the Therapy Spot’s annual open house, which means drinks, cotton candy, face painting, and two bounce-houses for the kids. Continue reading
So the Monster’s getting one more week of camp at the JCC, courtesy of their “Sunday Funday Everyday” program. Because I’m home from work for the week, the wife and I are taking turns with the run to drop him off and pick him up.
Much of the staff from the program was also present at Camp Milldale, so they’re already acquainted with what he can and cannot do, with his foibles and the like. This was a good push to get him to go there, and so it was very easy to part with the money for the additional week. Continue reading